Modern Warfare 2: Ghost Remade
by Watanabe Kin
Summary: Ghost and Roach collected the DSM and headed for the extraction point where they believed they would be safe. They were wrong. Betrayed by their superior, Shepherd, who wanted the DSM for himself to become a war hero? New version! New version! Old version found on other account - details inside. Full summery also inside.
1. Chapter 1

Modern Warfare 2: Ghost

\- Ghost and Roach collected the DSM and headed for the extraction point where they believed they would be safe. They were wrong. Betrayed by their superior, Shepherd, who wanted the DSM for himself to become a war hero? He shot them both and proceeded to light Roach on fire before walking away with his new team, the Shadow Company. Set after the events of MW2.

*Disclaimer* I do not own the Modern Warfare 2 or the characters. No copyright infringement intended.

The original version of this story can be found on my fanfiction account 'Bleach Fox' here is the link:

s/7761850/1/Modern-Warfare-2-Ghost

Chapter 1:

 _Where am I? What's going on?_

These were my first thoughts when I regained consciousness. Opening my eyes I saw the sky above was clouded over, it looked like rain was coming. Yet it was oddly warm, turning my head, my eyes widened when I saw a bonfire lit next to me in the ditch where I lay, and someone was in the middle of it, I could smell the gasoline still in the air, it was on my clothes. Somehow I hadn't been set alight, I was just far enough from the flames that they couldn't reach me and burn me too.

 _Bastard!_ I thought furiously, remembering what Shepherd had done. _Didn't even check to see if we were alive or not._ Movement in the fire caught my attention and for a moment I thought I imagined it, then it happened again, he was still alive. "Roach…" I croaked, dragging myself closer to the flames. "Roach!"

The closer I got the more intense the pain became, the two bullet holes in my chest and stomach causing more damage with each movement. But I crawled closer to the fire, if Roach was alive then I needed to rescue him. Once I was as close as I could get, I had to rip off my mask so I could breathe properly, the smoke from the fire too dense for me to continue wearing it.

"Roach?!"

He shifted again at the call of his name, turning to face me. "G-ghost?" He said my name weakly, I only just caught the words. Slowly, he reached out a hand and I grabbed it as it left the flames, my hand protected from the heat by my gloves.

"Hang on Roach, I'll get you out of there. Just hold on for me." His eyes closed, a wry smile forming on his face, or the part of his face I could see, the rest was gone in the fire and I knew if I didn't get him out soon, he would die. "Open your eyes Sergeant!" They opened again at my command and he looked at me. "You will not die, now focus! Move it!"

Roach didn't move for a moment and he closed his eyes again. Then he opened them and I saw the determination inside them. Slowly he shifted onto his front and began crawling towards me and I grabbed his arm, hauling him out of the flames. It was lucky really, or just chance Soap suggested we wore fire retardant clothes for this mission, Roach would be dead without it.

"Ok, good." I managed to drag his further from the flames, to a safe distance before stripping off my jacket to stop the flames still on him. "How you holding up?" Roach just groaned and I chuckled softly, lying down next to him. "Yeah, I know the feeling."

"Comms…"

"Mmm?"

"You… spare comms…" Roach's hand gripped the edge of my vest jacket. "Soap… call Soap…"

"Shit, I'm an idiot." I cursed, fumbling in my pocket for the spare comm I kept for emergencies, Roach and Soap were the only ones who knew about it luckily. "Soap? Price? Is anyone there? Is anyone reading this?"

It took a few moments, bursts of static came through before Soap's voice rang clearly through. "Ghost? You're alive?!"

I laughed, turning to see Roach even managed to crack a smile. "Yeah, Roach is too but he won't last much longer, we need help. How far away are you?"

"We're on our way, about twenty minutes out, will he hold?"

I looked down at Roach who was staring at me with half lidded eyes. "I'll make sure he does."

"Roger, we'll be there soon, hold on!"

The line went dead and I dropped the comm on the floor, rolling Roach onto his back. "Ok Roach, they're coming, stay awake buddy." I slapped him hard when he didn't respond and his head jerked, eyes opening again to glare at me. "Good, now stay awake!"

Roach mumbled something incoherently so I leaned closer to him and he repeated it. "Behind you… Shepherd…"

I whirled around but was too late again, Shepherd's boot slammed into my face and I was thrown back, away from Roach and landed a good few feet away from him. Groaning in pain, my vision went blank for a moment as I rolled over, clutching my nose which was surely broken by the impact. After a moment it cleared and I saw Shepherd crouched in front of me, a sickening grin on his face.

"I knew you wouldn't die that easily, you're too stubborn, one of the best after all. That's why you were the Lieutenant of the Task Force. Don't worry, I'll keep you alive until Price and MacTavish arrive, then you'll meet your end. As for your friend, here… well I doubt he'll live that long." Shepherd turned away from me to face Roach who was unable to move, all he could do was face us and watch as Shepherd aimed the gun at his head.

"No!" I yelled, launching myself at the man's legs and tackled him to the ground. The bullet fired from his gun, missing Roach's head by a millimetre and he flinched, but he was still alive. "Bastard you won't touch him!" Shepherd managed to knee me in one of my wounds and my grip loosened on him enough for him to stand again. "Why?" I asked after a moment, glaring up at the man whose smirk disappeared at the question.

Kneeling down, he grabbed my shirt and hauled me up so we our faces were level. "Revenge. See, five years ago I lost thousands of men, good men, in less than a fucking minute. Tomorrow, when I give this DCM in," he held it up before putting it back in his chest pocket, "there will be no shortage of volunteers. I know you understand me."

"Go to hell." I spat and he threw me to the ground, twisting his foot in one of the wounds he inflicted. "Argh! Bloody wanker!"

Shepherd just smirked, turning back to Roach and sighed. "It's a shame really, he was such a good soldier."

"No…" I couldn't move, Shepherd's foot was still planted firmly on my chest, I couldn't reach him, and I couldn't stop him. I met Roach's eyes and he knew, he knew he was going to die. He smiled, closing his eyes as the shot rang around the clearing, the bullet tearing through his head and he was dead. "Roach!"

"Not good enough Ghost, you didn't save him." I wasn't listening to him, I was still looking at Roach, hand outstretched towards him. I should have saved him, it was my fault he was dead, I failed him. "Maybe now you'll respect your elders."

My hand curled into a fist and I turned to look at Shepherd. "Fuck you asshole."

The smug expression he word quickly vanished and with a harsh kick to my face, I was out cold again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

When I came around for the second time, it took me a moment to figure out what was going on again. It was raining now, shielding my eyes I looked around, finding Roach's body lying near the smouldering flames which were the remnants of the fire.

"Simon…" I turned my head at the call of my name, frowning in confusion when I saw Roach crouched next to me. Turning again I saw his body before looking at him next to me. He looked different, no burns, no bullet holes, hell he was even smiling and wearing a different uniform. "Hey Simon, you awake?"

I nodded, closing my eyes again. "You're dead."

"Yeah, I know." I opened my eyes again when he answered, looking at him in confusion. "You're hallucinating obviously, how else would I know your name?" That did make sense, I must have lost what remained of my sanity. "You need to get up."

"What's the point? I'm going to die anyway."

"Maybe, maybe not. That all depends on if you give up." Roach stood up, standing over me and held out a hand. "Come on, Shepherd's here and you're the only one who can kill him."

He was right, I could hear gunshots close by. It took almost all my willpower to reach out and grab Roach's hand and he grinned, hauling me up into a sitting position. "Mother fucker!" I swore, clutching my side and Roach chuckled.

"Hurts like a bitch huh? Time to get to work Ghost." His voice faded with the last words and when I looked up, he was gone.

"Ah shit, I'm going crazy." More gunshots and I stood slowly, staggering towards the sounds. After a few minutes I found Shepherd, he was shooting across the field at the treeline at something, or someone.

"You bastard Shepherd!"

"Where's Ghost and Roach?!"

It was Price and Soap, they had finally arrived. "You're too late, they're both dead!" Shepherd yelled back before ducking to reload. He froze when he looked up and saw me before snorting. "I should have known, you're a hard man to kill Ghost." Before I could react Shepherd was up and he had me pinned on the ground again, gun pointed to my head. "Say goodbye Ghost." Behind him I could see a figure running towards us, but they were too far away, they wouldn't make it in time, just like Roach.

"No!" Soap burst through the treeline, taking wild shots at us both, most of them missing but one lodged in Shepherd's arm, making the man drop the gun and turned around to face him. "Shit!" He dropped the gun as the clip emptied, charging at Shepherd and tackled him off me and they both crashed to the ground.

The impact Soap created whacked my head on the ground and I found myself incapacitated again. "Soap look out!" Price yelled and rolling my head I saw Shepherd had pulled out a knife and was advancing on Soap who was still on the ground. Then I noticed Shepherd's discarded weapon which he had time to reload before Soap intervened. Price was still too far away to help and I groaned, rolling onto my front and began crawling to the gun.

Soap looked up as Shepherd drove the knife down at him, managing to dodge and it sunk into his arm instead of his chest. "You never learn MacTavish." Shepherd stood up and looked down at the Captain. "And now you'll pay the price for it."

"Hey Shepherd!" I yelled, closing my fingers around the gun and rolled onto my back to face him. He paused, turning to look at me and I grinned. "Forgetting something?" Loading the gun, I saw his eyes widen and he looked around on the ground for his gun. "This is for Roach." I murmured quietly, pulling the trigger and the shot rang loud as the bullet impacted the middle of Shepherd's head.

"Aww thanks." Shepherd's body fell to the floor and I dropped the gun, turning my head to see Roach sat next to me grinning. "I didn't know you cared so much." I really must be going crazy, before I knew it I was laughing and Roach's smile faded as it turned hysterical. "Ghost?"

"Ghost!" Soap yelled, slapping my face hard to jerk me back to reality. "Snap out of it!"

"I'm cool." I murmured, turning towards him. "You?"

"Better than you mate." Soap grabbed a bag that was thrown at him, presumably from Price. "Hold on, let's get you patched up." He pulled out some bandages, ripping of the remains of my shirt to stat fixing the bullet wounds. "Roach?"

"Dead, Shepherd shot him."

"Dead but not gone." Roach murmured quietly, crouching next to me and smiled sadly. "Seems you just can't let go."

"I'll get Nikolai, get him stable Soap." Price's face swam into view for a moment before disappearing. Soap worked in silence, processing the news of his Sergeants death, amongst the others that had died here.

"Alright, you should be good to go. It'll hold until we get to the safe house."

I nodded and Soap sighed, standing up and grabbed the bag. He left me alone and I stood after a moment, walking over first to Shepherd's body to collect the DSM before to Roach and knelt next to it. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you." I undid his tags, pocketing them quickly when Soap came to join me.

"Time to go Ghost." He helped me to my feet, leading me into the next field where Price and Nikolai were waiting. Soap jumped up onto the cargo plane, tuning to look at me with a grin, holding out a hand. "Need a hand?"

I rolled my eyes, grabbing it and he hoisted me up. "Thanks." Once I was seated as comfortable as possible, I chucked the DSM to Soap and he caught it nimbly. "We're going to need that, whatever is on it was worth Roach's life, so it better be important."

"You cared for him huh?" Soap asked quietly, meeting my eyes.

"Yeah, he was a good friend. I don't have many of them nowadays." Soap nodded, dropping the subject and he joined Price and Nikolai at the front of the plane as it took off. Once I was sure I was alone and wouldn't be disturbed, I took my tags off, sliding Roach's on the chain next to mine before redoing the tags around my neck.

"You know it wasn't your fault right?"

I opened my eyes to see Roach sat across from me. "What?" I asked quietly so the others didn't hear.

"Me. There wasn't anything you could've done. We both know if Shepherd hadn't killed me, the fire would have. There's no way I would have survived with those wounds." Roach sighed, looking out of the window at the clearing as it got smaller and smaller before disappearing completely. "How long will I stay with you?" I shrugged, I had no idea, I didn't even know why I was imagining him. Roach chuckled, apparently he could read my thoughts too. "Well I am you… sorta."

"Shut up Roach." He did a mock salute before miming zipping his mouth shut, looking up as Soap came to join me.

"Jeeze you're still awake? I thought you'd be out of it by now." Soap sat down next to me, checking the bandages and nodded in approval. "You're going to be fine thank god."

"Great, so what's next?"

"We need to lay low for a while, think about our next move. No-one knew about Shepherd so we'll be named traitors. We can't go back to base but Nikolai says he knows a place." Soap paused and sighed, also looking out the side door and I almost laughed since he was staring straight through Roach. "Figure out what's on the DSM and figure out our next move from there." He patted my shoulder before standing up. "Get some rest Ghost, you're going to need it."

"Sure thing Captain."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

" _It's a shame really, he was such a good soldier."_

" _No… Roach!"_

" _Not good enough Ghost, you didn't save him."_ _Roach's body jerked and went still, the echo of the shot still ringing in my ears._

I woke up with a start, Roach's death still clearly visible in my mind and I quickly threw the makeshift covers off, standing up to look outside the side door. We were still flying so I couldn't have been asleep long, the mountains were gone now and we were over desert by the looks of it.

Wiping my forehead, I sighed and leaned against the cool structure of the cargo plane, wrapping an arm around the bandages covering my stomach. "Roach…"

"Still here." I turned to see him sat on the bench grinning. "Just can't get rid of me huh?" He paused, looking me over. "You look like shit."

I let out a hoarse laugh, moving to sit next to him. "Thanks."

"Ghost? Is everything ok?" Soap walked in from the front end of the plane, a frown on his face as he looked at me. "You were talking."

"Nightmares." I informed him, not mentioning the apparition of Roach, no need to make Soap think I was any crazier than he thought. "They never stop."

"Yes well, one of the unfortunate side effects of our line of work." I looked up at Soap and scrutinised his face. He hadn't slept for a while now, he was also in need of a shave. "Stop that." He admonished, waving a finger at me. "Don't start analysing, I hate it when you pull that shit on me."

"RPG!" Nikolai yelled before I could respond and Soap was up instantly, moving towards the Russian. He had just reached the chair when the explosive hit, the carrier spinning out of control as Nikolai tried to regain controls. "We're going down!" Something came loose from the railing above, flying towards me and hit me in the head, the impact knocking me out.

When I woke up, I opened my eyes to find I was outside. Standing slowly, I checked my bandages and sighed in relief to find they were still holding. Looking around I spotted smoke rising from the trees a few clicks away and if I could see it, that meant anyone else around could.

"So, we're off to the carrier?" I looked to my left to see Roach sitting on a broken tree trunk, snapped clean in half by some debris from the plane. "You know where we are?"

"Enemy territory, Soap said we were passing over Afghanistan still." Brushing aside a tree branch, I continued through the forest, Roach walking silently beside me. As we neared the smoke I could hear a low murmur of voices and crouched down, silently making my way towards them.

It was the Shadow Company, three men stood with their backs to me, discussing the wreckage. Roach walked over to them and stood next to the group. "Shadow Company?"

I nodded, pulling out a pistol and my knife. Sneaking up on them was easy, they weren't paying attention, probably didn't think anyone had survived or was outside the crash site. I dove at one, driving the knife into his neck and we both crashed to the floor. Pulling the knife out I threw it at another, hitting him in the chest and he too fell dead to the floor. The third was just reaching for his weapon but I pulled the trigger before he could, the bullet hitting him in the head.

"Nice." Roach commented as I stood, retrieving the knife. "I knew you were good, but not that good."

I chose not to answer, the shot would have carried and any more men would have heard and be moving my way to investigate. I had to get to the plane before they arrived. Gunshots rang suddenly and I followed the sound to find the Shadow Company surrounding the wreckage, bearing down on everyone inside. Looking around, I spotted a chunk of the plane had ripped off and took cover behind it before shooting a couple of them. It gained the attention of several others and I had to duck behind cover to avoid the spray of bullets heading my way.

It was over within minutes, the group came unprepared for Task Force soldiers and were taken down quickly. "Everyone alright?" I called, standing up and made my way down to were the main body of the carrier plane had come to rest.

Price emerged first, followed by Soap who was supporting a dazed Nikolai. "We're good, thanks for the assist."

I nodded, holstering my gun and kicked one of the bodies over to get a closer look at him. "They won't be the last, we need to move."

"There should be a base close by, we need to take them out. I have a plan so let's go." Price strode off through the trees and I helped Soap with Nikolai as we followed after him.

After a good ten minutes walking we came to the edge of the trees to find a hidden network of caves at the mountain edge where the Shadow Company had taken up base. It was poorly guarded thankfully due to the plane crash, most of the men had gone to investigate so we easily snuck in and began following the winding path into the caves. We came to a small junction where conveniently it split into four paths. Price stopped and pulled out something from his bag, a grin forming on my face when I saw it was explosives. He handed each of us a hefty supply, assigning us each a tunnel.

"Alright you all know the drill, plant the explosives and radio in to let everyone know. We'll regroup outside in twenty and blow this place to hell." I headed down the small path, keeping to the shadows as best as possible in the tight surroundings.

"Great plan, nothing could go wrong with this." I rolled my eyes as Roach appeared, walking beside me casually, not that anyone else would see him if I met with anyone. "You know this could end badly in so many ways, right."

"And here was me thinking you were an eternal optimist." I muttered, carefully pushing some of the explosives into a cubby hole before continuing.

"I'm not me though am I, I'm you." Roach sighed, coming to a stop as a light flickered up ahead of us. "Looks like we're not alone."

"Ah shit." I cursed, backing into a small curve in the wall which I just managed to fit into as two guards walked passed. I didn't have time to take them out so I let them pass, continuing on my way. It continued in this fashion for a while though I met no more guards and soon was out of explosives. "Alright I'm done, you guys?" I asked, switching my comms on.

"Yes, just planting the last of it now."

"All done my friends and I am heading for the exit, see you outside."

"Yeah I'm heading after Nikolai, hurry up Price, something's wrong."

Soap's intuition never failed us and I groaned. "Then let's blow the place to hell already and be done with it."

"Ghost has a point. Alright everyone get to the rendezvous ASAP."

The line went dead and I switched the comms off again before heading back towards the exit. "Ghost?"

"Not now Roach." I muttered, ducking into another corridor as a group went past, it seemed they had returned from the search.

"Ghost!" He hissed and I growled, turning to look at him. "We're being followed!" I froze and sure enough, I could hear faint footsteps behind us, I hadn't been paying attention.

"Fuck." I muttered, looking around but saw no escape, the path in front was blocked by another group who were taking a break and there were no other exits.

"Hands up!" I sighed before standing, raising my hands as one of the Shadow soldiers came out from behind me, pointing a gun at me. The group ahead now we're moving towards us as well, I didn't have long. "Hey no funny business!"

"Too late." I lunged at him, taking him by surprise and gave him a good whack around the head and he slid to the floor unconscious. Hearing a gun click I paused, turning around slowly to see three more men all aiming at me and sighed. "Ok, you got me." A sharp pain at the back of my head told me someone else had been there and I was out cold.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

"You should have killed those guards." I groaned, opening my eyes to see Roach stood in front of me frowning. "Is this a common theme now, how many times you can lose consciousness?"

"Shut up Roach." I stood up, looking around the small cave I'd been shoved into. There was only one exit, the door and it was more than likely locked, not that I could open it anyhow since my hands were tied.

"Ghost?" My name crackled through the comm set hidden in my vest, seems the guards missed it.

"Yeah Soap?" I called loudly so my voice would be picked up, I had no way to get the comm near my face.

"Price is about to blow the place, where the hell are you?"

"I've been compromised and there's no way out."

There was a moment of silence before he answered. "Ok, we'll come and get you then."

"There's no time, just do it already. If you come back and we all get caught that's the end and Shepherd wins." Roach looked up sharply at that and I shook my head at him.

"No! We've already lost Roach not you too!"

"Goodbye Soap."

I navigated the comm against the door handle and pressed down on it so the link went dead. The last thing they needed to hear was me dying. I looked around again in the hopes of an exit and spotted a small hole at the centre of the ceiling, the only problem being it was several feet higher than me. I could climb it but first I needed to untie my hands.

"There's rocks." Roach pointed at the corner of the cave when I looked at him. Picking up a particularly jagged one, I set to work cutting the rope binding my hands. "Oh shit, better hide the rock."

He was right, footsteps were growing louder outside and I quickly slid it up my sleeve, moving to stand in the centre of the room. The door slammed open and the man who walked in looked like the one in charge, the big dog. He strode over to me, grabbing my shirt to pull me closer to him. "Where is Shepherd?"

He was American, then again the Shadow Company weren't the usual militia we were normally dealing with. These were trained by Shepherd, trained to take down the Task Force and we were the best of the best. "Dead."

"You're lying."

I shook my head, pulling free of his grasp with a smirk. "No. I'm the one who pulled the trigger after all. I'm pretty sure he's dead." That riled the man up, he snarled and punched my jaw. I stumbled back, regaining my posture so I didn't fall before spitting out some blood. "That all you got?"

"You'll pay for this."

He started advancing on me but whatever he was going to do never happened as an explosive set off somewhere in the compound. "Oops, did I forget to mention that?"

"You idiots!" The man shouted as he left at the guards outside. "Didn't you check for the others?"

The door slammed shut and locked again. After a moment I began hacking at the ropes again. After a few minutes they were broken and I dropped them on the floor, rubbing my wrists as I looked at the wall more closely. The cave was man made, probably by explosives so it was easy enough to climb. About halfway up however it smoothed out and the only way to get up was to leap across the gap where a ledge was on the other side of the wall.

"Ah, shit."

"Think you can make it?" Roach was sat on the ledge, looking across at me curiously. "It's a long jump."

"Well I'll die anyway if I stay here." Roach nodded in agreement and I began swinging back and forth to gain some momentum. Once it seemed enough, I let go as I swung towards the ledge, just grasping the edge before I fell. "I don't suppose you can help me up, can you?" Roach just laughed, shaking his head. "Didn't think so." I hauled myself up into the edge and lay down on the flat surface to catch my breath.

It was lucky I did as the door below swung open, I crawled to the edge to look down and saw the man from before had come back. He was stood in the middle of the room, holding the broken rope and looking around in shock at my disappearance. I would have laughed if it wouldn't have given away my position. The second set of explosives went off and the whole room shook, the ledge I was on started crumbling away and I had to move quickly before it fell.

The man heard the rock fall and looked up, running from the room as the ledge fell and thankfully didn't notice me as I began climbing to the hole again. I was running out of time fast, when Price set off the third explosives the whole room would collapse and I needed to be out of it to survive.

I could reach the opening from where I was and hauled myself up and luckily, it led outside. Scanning the area, I soon found the rendezvous point and began climbing down the rocks. Unfortunately Price decided to set off the next explosives and as the cave systems collapsed below, I lost my footing and fell the rest of the way.

"Ghost you have to get up." Roach's voice sounded near me and I lifted my head to find him crouched nearby. "Move, they're coming." I could hear their voices behind me, what was left of the Shadow Company was regrouping and right now I was an easy target. "Move!"

I scrambled to my feet at the words and ran into the forest, turning on my comms again. "Price!"

"We see you Ghost, keeping heading north and you'll meet us in a few clicks." I ducked as a spray of bullets came my way, ducking behind a tree. "I would hurry, what's left of them are after your blood now."

"Thanks for the advice." When the he billets stopped I took my chance and started running again. This process continued for several minutes and I almost laughed in relief when the trees thinned out and I found I was on the edge of a quarry, a heli sat in the centre a few yards ahead. I slid down the edge of the quarry, stumbling to my feet and began running again as the Shadow Company started shooting from the top. "That better be you guys in there!"

The blades started whirling and Soap appeared at the side and grinned at me, grabbing my arm as I reached it and hauled me up. "Glad to see you made it. Nikolai let's go!" The heli took off, the quarry collapsing underneath it and it took the re manners with the Shadow Company with it.

"So now what?" Roach was sat next to me, sitting precariously on the edge of the heli, legs dangling over the edge. Not that it would matter if he fell since he was already dead.

"Makarov." I answered and Soap looked at me sharply. "We need to find Makarov."

"Slow down Ghost, one thing at a time." Soap put a restraining hand on my shoulder when I tried to stand up. "You need to heal, going after Makarov in your state is suicidal. We're going to Nikolai's safe house to regroup and plan from there."

I sighed, nodding in agreement and he removed the hand. "Soap's right you know. You need to heal or you'll end up like me." Roach informed me with a sad smile. "I don't want you to die because you're too headstrong."

I snorted and managed a smile of my own. Although he wasn't really Roach but a figment of my imagination, he still acted like him. Apparently I paid too much attention to him when he was alive. Soap had sat down, satisfied I wouldn't be straining myself any further and I sighed, resting my head on the wall. Looking outside as the dust settled around the collapsed quarry I smiled as I realised we were one step closer to our final goal, Makarov. And I would be the one to pull the trigger, for everyone we had lost, for the Task Force, for Roach.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

 _*Two Months Later*_

Today is the day of Roach's memorial service, the day we say goodbye.

Macmillan was stood at the podium, talking about how Roach was a hero until the end, he served his country right up to his death and was an honourable man. I glanced to my side at what was an empty seat, but my ghost Roach was sat looking at the podium with a frown.

I almost snorted out loud at the thought, my name was Ghost but here was Roach, an actual ghost. He turned to me as I thought it, raising an eyebrow. Of course he wasn't actually a ghost, just a figment of my imagination, another reminder of how crazy I truly was.

It helped though, that probably why he was here. Every night it replayed in my head, every time I closed my eyes I watched Roach die again and again and again. Seeing him seemingly alive helped relieve me of that, If only it worked when I slept. Soap and Price knew nothing of this of course, if they found out about the ghost Roach they would think me mad and I wouldn't be allowed to continue the hunt for Makarov.

The Task Force had been reinstated since proof of Shepherd's betrayal had come to light. We hadn't returned to base though, with only four of us left it wasn't our home anymore, just a graveyard of empty rooms and echoes of men dead at the hands of Makarov and Shepherd.

"… and now for Sergeant Sanderson's service to our nations, we unveil his statue." Macmillan proclaimed, a sheet being removed from a large object next to him. It was a bronze statue of Roach, replicated from a photo taken moments before we stormed the estate, mere hours before his death. You couldn't see his face though, the helmet and balaclava covered his features but I remember he was laughing when the photo was taken, saying it was ridiculous to 'document the moment' as Archer had told him.

"Huh, it even looks like me. They must have put a lot of effort into it." Roach mused next to me before turning in my direction. "What does the plaque say?"

I couldn't see it from my seat, but I knew to inscription well enough. "In memory of a war hero, Sergeant Gareth 'Roach' Sanderson. You will be remembered." I muttered quietly, Soap who was sat on my other side turned sharply at the words to look at me questioningly.

"You going up or what?" He asked after a moment, jerking his head at the podium and I sighed, standing and making my way to it slowly.

When I got there and turned to face the small crowd, I noticed two women on the front row crying, one similar to Roach and around his age and an older woman with recognisable similar features. "My mother and sister." Roach informed me from his standing position at my side. "My dad died when I was young, car accident."

I have a small nod, I remember reading about it in the brief when he first joined the Task Force. Taking a deep breath as Macmillan stepped back, I took up his spot on the podium to begin talking. I hadn't prepared a speech, I hadn't planned on what I was going to say, I just had to go with what I thought was right, what I could think of at that moment.

"Roach was…" I paused, taking another deep breath. "Gary was my closest friend, we've been through a lot together, right up until the end. I guess you could say we were brothers. It's because of him I'm standing here today, he was the one to take the DSM. He must have know something was wrong to do that. If I had taken it then most likely I would be the one dead and he would be here now talking about me.

Shepherd killed him. I know many of you don't believe it but it's the truth. I watched as he pulled the trigger and killed Roach. I tried to stop him, I should have tried harder but I didn't, I couldn't… and I failed, I failed Gary."

I paused again, looking up from the wooden podium to see very one was silent and watching me intently. I wasn't big on public speaking and no-one knew really what had happened at the estate. I hadn't spoken to it with anyone, not even Soap who was now my closest friend since Roach's death.

"Shepherd killed him in an attempt to become a war hero. He wanted volunteers to replace those lost five years ago in Capitol City where Zakaheav blew the nuke, killing thousand of our men and innocent civilians. Makarov, his apprentice is still out there and what remains of us have taken up the mission to finish the job. We will kill him, for all those lost in Capitol City, for the Task Force, for Gary. I won't stop until he is dead."

My eyes locked with Soap's and he nodded, Price and Nikolai repeating the action as I looked at them. It was the beginning of the end, Roach's funeral set in motion the final stages of the war.

"Ghost…" Roach murmured my name quietly as I stepped down from the podium and Macmillan finished the service. He followed me to the statue where I crouched next to it and pulled out my knife. Underneath the description I carved my name. Soap knelt next to me a moment later and I handed him the knife for him to do the same. As Price and Nikolai approached they too added their names. We were effectively signing a contract, a binding will we shared to finish the mission and kill Makarov.

"We'll meet you at the heli when you're ready." Soap murmured to me, giving me a bracing pat on the shoulder before leaving with the others.

"You're Ghost right?" I started slightly and turned to see it was Roach's mother. When I nodded she knelt next to me and placed a hand on the stone statue, her fingers brushing over our carved names. "You were really there, when it happened?" I nodded again and she sighed. "Will you tell me what happened? What really happened."

I glanced at Roach who was sitting next to his mother, he wasn't crying though, I'd never seen him cry so I guess he couldn't. He looked at me and nodded. "Like I said, we were betrayed by our superior Shepherd. He shot Roach, I tried to grab my gun but he shot me too. We were thrown in a ditch and set alight." I stopped when she sobbed suddenly and she blew her nose before waving at me to continue. "I dragged him out of the fire… he was going to live." I wasn't looking at her anymore, I was back there again, watching Roach die. "Shepherd shot him in the head, I tried to stop him but I couldn't move, I wasn't fast enough."

I started suddenly when she grabbed my hand, giving it a soft squeeze. "Thank you, for being there. Gary talked about you a lot, he looked up to you. I'm glad you were there with him." I nodded, not totally uncomfortable in her presence, but I wasn't relaxed either.

Remembering Roach's tags, I undid the chain around my neck and started to remove them. "These were Roach's, you should have them."

She grabbed my hands again to stop me and smiled when I looked up at her. "Keep them, you need them more than me." With that she stood up, giving me one last smile before leaving. I couldn't help but think she pitied me, she could grieve in peace now she knew what happened to her son. But I had a long way to go before that. T would be over with Makarov's death and with that, Roach would disappear forever.

With a heavy sigh I stood and left the find Soap. The DSM needed to be cracked and then we would be one step closer to finding and killing Makarov.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

It had been at least a month since Roach's funeral by now. After the ceremony Price had a chat with MacMillan, the Major General agreeing to supply a safe house to us. It turned out this 'safe house' was a small bunker in Pripyat, an abandoned city on the outskirts of Chernobyl. Price informing us of his and Macmillan's previous time here over twenty years ago, where this all began with Zakhaev. I couldn't help but think, if Price hadn't missed his shot, if he had killed Zakhaev, would we be sat here now, would Makarov have risen to power, would Roach be dead?

"Don't think about the 'what ifs'." My train of thoughts stopped and I looked up from the papers spread in front of me to see Roach leaning against the wall nearby. "It won't do you any good, I'm dead and nothing will change that. So what if Price had killed Zakhaev? Makarov would still be here, the nuke still would have happened and Shepherd would still have shot me. Nothing can change what happened."

He was right of course. Roach nodded as I silently agreed with him and moved closer to the papers to look at them. Nothing could change what had happened, Roach was dead and there was no changing it. Hell the whole Task Force was dead, there was only four of us left to carry on the mission, to finish it for everyone.

"Anything?" Soap's voice brought me back again to the dimly lit room we were sat in. Surrounded by papers and information pulled from the DSM, there was a lot of information, most of it irrelevant. It was about Zakhaev Airport, what really happened so at least we could clear Allen's name. The rest however, we still needed to decode.

"Nothing." I groaned, pushing the papers away and Roach huffed impatiently as they were disappeared from sight. "This is pointless."

"There's something here, I know it." Price muttered, grabbing some more sheets and began pouring over them for the hundredth time. Out of all of us he was the one spending the most hours on this, he barely slept and when he did, it was right there were he sat. I couldn't remember the last time he'd left the room. Makarov had gotten to him that was obvious. "We just need to jeep looking."

"Well good luck to you, I'm going to sleep for a bit." I muttered, pushing away from the large desk to stand up. It had been hours since I'd last rested, too long to count. Like Price, I knew we had to keep looking for something, anything that would give us a lead to Makarov.

I moved to the other room where four small beds had been squashed together. Like I said, this abysmal shack was small and there wasn't a lot of space. But we were off the radar which was what counted, no-one knew we were here except MacMillan and if Price trusted him to keep that to himself, then I guess I could too.

Lying down on one of the beds, I pressed my hands to my eyes heavily and groaned, this place was driving me crazy. I never did well in small spaces, reminded me of the many times I'd spent chained to walls and chairs in enemy territory where I had nothing but the torture to accompany me. With those dark thoughts in mind, it was no wonder I had another nightmare whilst I was asleep.

" _Riley…"_

 _I stirred slightly at the call of my name, opening my eyes to find I was chained to a wall. I tried to pull the chains but they wouldn't give a budge. Then laughter started, I had enough free movement to turn my head and my eyes widened in surprise when I saw it was Sparks and Washington, two of the men who'd been captured by Roba with my, my former friends._

" _Riley you're mine." I recognised the voice, it was Roba. With that the man materialised and grabbed me by the throat, pinning me to the wall as my former comrades continued laughing. "You can never escape what you are, you are a Ghost. You will never be allowed to live."_

" _Fuck off." I spat at him, wrenching my head free. The action however caused me to hit my head pretty hard on the wall behind me._

" _Ghost…" I blinked, coming out of the daze slowly at the softer call of my name. As my vision cleared I could see it was Roach, bound to a chair in front of me. "Ghost you've got to fight it, you've got to get free."_

" _I can't Roach… it's over."_

" _It's only over when you give up!" He yelled back, pulling at his restraints to no avail. "You didn't give up on me, don't give up on yourself." The bonds were cutting into his hands, the blood was dripping onto the floor and when I looked up at his face, the bullet hole was back. The room went silent, Sparks and Washington were gone._

 _I heard a gun click and Shepherd stepped out of the darkness behind Roach, pressing a gun under his chin._ _"It's a shame really, he was such a good soldier."_

" _No… Roach!" The chains around my arms broke and I fell to the floor as Shepherd pulled the trigger._

The dream shattered and the sound of the gun echoed in my ears as I jerked up, struggling in the bedsheets wildly for a moment before I realised I was awake. "Roach huh?" Soap grabbed my arm as I spun around, arm raised to punch him. I relaxed when I realised who it was and he let go. "Nightmares?"

I nodded, finally getting free of the sheets and exhaled slowly. "They never stop." Roach was back, he sat down next to me and rested a hand on my arm, not that I could feel it. He couldn't help me in my dreams, my subconscious didn't allow it. In my dreams he always died. "Fucking Shepherd, as if I didn't have enough to deal with after Roba."

Soap stayed silent for a while, allowing me to compose myself before he spoke. "I know, I dream about it too. Not just Roach, but all of them, Ozone, Poet, Meat, Scarecrow, Archer… everyone. I was their Captain and I failed them, I should've known about Shepherd." He paused, sighing heavily and is aw his hand was clenched tightly, but it didn't hide the shaking. "All we can do for them now is finish this. We kill Makarov, and their deaths won't have been in vain."

He stood up, holding out a hand to me which I took and he hauled me to my feet, giving me a bracing pat. "Come on, let's crack this fucker." I muttered, leading the way back into the main room where Price was still sat surrounded by papers.

It was a shame Nikolai wasn't here really, since his first language was Russian but he was currently busy elsewhere. He was to join us later when we figured out our next move. He had his own mission to complete, once we knew where Makarov was, we would need help and since the man had connections with the PMC it was an obvious choice as to what he needed to do.

"Why the bloody hell did Shepherd want this?!" Price cursed, throwing some sheets aside and several more cascaded to the floor. "There's nothing here! Why did he kill so many people for this?"

"Because something's here." I replied calmly, managing to keep my anger under wraps. The last thing we needed now was for me to lose my cool. "Roach died for this, like you said Shepherd killed for it. Something important is hidden here, I know it."

"You know Ghost sometimes you can be a fool. You can't see the bigger picture can you? Shepherd didn't want this for information, he wanted it as an excuse to get his fucking blank check and his Shadow Company to take Makarov down himself." I stiffened, standing up with the papers in hand to glare at the older man. "This is useless."

"You know something Price?" I asked quietly, placing the papers on the table before meeting his eyes again. "That's exactly what Shepherd said to me. 'You don't see the bigger picture', well maybe I don't need to." Looking down at the papers again, I noticed something beneath my fingers, removing the hand to get a closer look. "All I need to see is what's in front of me." I jabbed a finger at the symbol and both Price and Soap crowded around me to get a closer look.

"Celtic." Price murmured, quickly looking at some of the other sheets and pulled several of them out, the others pushed onto the floor as he spread them out on the table. "I knew learning it would come in handy one day." Both me and Soap stepped back to give the man some room to work, after an hour or so, Price held up a piece of paper he'd been scribbling on triumphantly. "Got it!"

"Hotel Omega?" Soap asked as I picked up the paper and we read the message.

"A safe house used during World War Two by the German's. My Grandfather told me about it, lucky for us he also told me the coordinates. Let's get going lads." He clapped Soap's shoulder with a grin before stopping in front of me and gave me a quick nod. "Good work Ghost."

I nodded in return and he left to contact Nikolai. "Well, let's get packing." Soap grinned before going into the other room. Like me, he hated being stuck in one place too long, we'd worn this place out long ago.

"Simon Riley, detective!" Roach proclaimed, making an arch above his head with his hands before grinning at me. "Has a nice ring, don't you think?" I snorted, ignoring the way Soap looked at my sharply. "How about 'Ghost Investigator'? No… that makes you sound like you're hunting ghosts."

I would have told him to shut up, if Soap wasn't in the room but he got the message anyway and in the blink of an eye, he had disappeared. It was strange really, I mused as we packed, that this ghost Roach was here, I didn't know why I imagined him. Maybe my subconscious was trying to tell me something, or maybe I really was crazy. Either way, it wouldn't stop me from putting a bullet through Makarov's head, no matter the cost.


End file.
